This invention relates to electrical connection and couplings.
The invention is more particularly concerned with connections between the screening sleeve of electrical wires and the outer shell of a connector, coupling or the like.
It is becoming increasingly necessary for individual wires, or twisted pairs of wires, in a cable to be electrically screened from one another, because of the need for cables to handle high frequency and digital signals. The usual way in which wires are screened from one another within a multi-wire cable is by means of a braided sleeve extending around twisted pairs of the wires. The braided sleeves are electrically connected at opposite ends of the cable to a coupling or connector shell, which makes connection to a ground plane. One way in which the screening sleeves can be electrically connected with the outer shell is by trapping the ends of the sleeve between two nested metal cones, in the manner described in GB2256097. The problem with these cone arrangements is that it can be difficult to ensure that each braid is contacted with the same force. The filaments of one braid may be laid in a thicker configuration than filaments of another braid, so that the force exerted by the cones on the thicker braid is greater, giving a good electrical contact but possibly causing damage to the filaments of the thicker braid, and giving a poorer electrical contact with the thinner braid.
Various other arrangements have been proposed for making connection to screening sleeves of multiple wires in a cable but these suffer from various problems such as requiring increased space and difficulty of assembly and maintenance.